Coleg Gwent has been urged to have its former Abergavenny campus at The Hill revalued and to restart immediate sales negotiations with prospective buyer Dr Olinga Ta'eed so that Wales' first residential ballet school can get the go-ahead by this autumn.

Dr Ta'eed said time was running out since student audition deadlines for the Primo Balletto school were already pressing. A further delay would mean the loss of the next academic year, he told about 60 people who packed the meeting at St Michael's Centre.

The meeting had been called by C.A.S.H. (Community Action to Save the Hill) after talks had collapsed between Coleg Gwent and Dr Ta'eed. The campus was shut down in August 2009 leading to a massive public outcry and fears about its future.

A year later, Dr Ta'eed leased the site while negotiating the sale so that the buildings could be refurbished so that short-term ballet courses could start immediately. Profits from the ballet school were intended to subsidise a range of community initiatives. But the deal fell through in January and the school moved out.

Last week, CASH representatives David Haswell, Hamish Sandison and Kim Waters accepted an invitation to meet Coleg Gwent principal Jim Bennett.

Mr Sandison and Mr Haswell gave reports of that meeting and said CASH would continue to fight to ensure that The Hill remained a community asset.

CASH had urged both sides to resume immediate negotiations.

Dr Ta'eed said attempts to arrange a meeting with Mr Bennett have so far failed. He had previously offered to make up the difference between the college's asking price and his valuation on a deferred basis but this was refused.

The delay in lifting a covenant on the site and a fall in property prices meant the deal was no longer viable. He had paid for the outgoings such as water, electricity and security on the site but not for the lease. The final straw had been the burst main leaving the site without water.

The meeting was told that Coleg Gwent had previously said it was re-assessing its options. The preferred one would be for The Hill to remain as an educational facility but the college had to get best value for the site.

The offer to meet Dr Ta'eed was still there and the site would be revalued before any new offer was considered.

Proceeds from the sale would be re-invested in its other sites.

Other speakers included Dr Nicola Perkins, director of the Mulberry Centre, who said a range of community education and activities had been planned for The Hill grounds.

About 15 community organisations had banded together to form PATH (Partnership At The Hill). These included Primo Balletto, Mulberry, the Friends of Gardd-y-Bryn, Communities First, Gwent Theatre, Abergavenny's Chamber of Trade, Civic Society and Development Forum, Adventa, WEA, Bryn-y-Cwm Forum, GAVO, Abergavenny Food Festival, CASH, Abergavenny Climate Action and their Woodland Group.

Irena Morgan, of Friends of Gardd-y-Bryn, said the gardening group was currently the only one working on site, and thanked both Dr Ta'eed and Coleg Gwent for their parts in giving the group access.

Open days were planned and one proposal was to have leaflets about the garden including one about the Wedgwood connection relating the story through flowers and plants.

The walled garden and grounds had been registered by Cadw.

Gardening sessions were currently held each Wednesday afternoon and more volunteers would be welcome.

Derek Tatton, from the Raymond Williams Foundation, outlined plans to transfer 11,000 books from the Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston, Staffordshire, to start a residential library at The Hill.

The foundation would subsidise students as well as other courses and conferences on the life and work of Raymond Williams, the Pandy-born left-wing academic, critic and champion of adult education.

The audience overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling on Coleg Gwent to have a property valuation completed by this week.

They urged the principal to meet Dr Ta'eed and resume negotiations by the following week, and to seek approval from its Governors for the sale of The Hill to Dr Ta'eed as soon as possible.